This year is a year like no other, and alongside managing the risks of day to day school life, schools are also encountering problems with fundraising in a safe and fun way. As a Co-Chair of a local village primary school, I am going to share some ideas we have had for fundraising efforts that could easily be replicated in other schools.
1 – Sponsored Walk to the North Pole
This one has a Christmas twist. Hurry! The idea is simple, your school needs to reach the North Pole for Christmas to meet Santa Claus. You create a walking or running target for each child and family participating, and then those groups get sponsorship to achieve their part of the walk. The World Walking App are offering bespoke routes to schools allowing parents to download the app and track the route to the North Pole.
2 – The Smartie Challenge
An oldie but a goodie! Simply send a tube of smarties home with each pupil to eat. The child keeps the tube and needs to do some good deeds to fill it back up with coins. This can be done over the weekend and during half terms. Once the activity is complete parents just leave the tubes outside each class in a basket so they can be collected and counted. The class that raises the most money gets a mini prize. Some small village primary schools have been known to make over £1,000 on this activity alone.
3 – Create a Cookery Book!
Ask all the parents and guardians in each class to provide their favourite recipe to feature in your very own school’s cookbook! Companies like Cauliflower Books can create these for only £5 each, and you can probably sell them for around £10 each. To make it even more fun, you can ask pupils to write out the recipes or even add drawings to the pages.
4 – Virtual Balloon Race
This is a seven day computer simulation race where everything is real apart from the balloon. You can buy one or more virtual balloons for just £3 each and give them a name, shape or pattern. The software designed to run the race uses live weather data to determine the progress of each balloon and each entry can be tracked on Google satellite map once launched. The winner is the balloon that has travelled the furthest in a straight line from the starting point. One company that offers this is Eco Racing.
5 – Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Sale
Obviously you would need to wear masks and gloves for this one, but this is a super easy way of making money! After all, who doesn’t love a doughnut? Krispy Kreme offer a special discounted price on their original glazed doughnuts at £5.50 per dozen, which works out at 45p each. Selling the doughnuts at £1 each would quickly raise some funds for your school. Setting up this activity is easy, just order your donuts on the Krispy Kreme website with at least 10 days notice, collect them and on the day get a few volunteers to sell them at a social distance.
As an added extra….Create a community directory of all local businesses (not for profit)
Lastly the school’s PTA could compile a directory of local businesses that any parents might be involved with, showcasing the products and services available. This is a great way for your community to show support for local businesses within their extended parents family.
With any of these activity and fundraising ideas, all of the relevant information could be easy to circulate to parents using the School Jotter Mobile App.
If you have any great and inventive fundraising ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Email them to info@schooljotter.com and we’ll update this blog post with our favourites.
Blog post authored by Claire Morritt
